Job Discussion Forums

[globalnomad]

Hi all,

Any info on this new University?

Hope you're all doing well.

[Bebsi]

I know Saudi extremely well, but I've never heard of Taibah. Where is this place exactly?

[globalnomad]

SO this must be the phantom university, 'cause the regulars that visit this site seem to always know everything, so if they don't know about this Univ. I guess it's cause for worry.

Taibah University
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Taibah University is a newly established university. It comprises six faculties: (1) Medicine and Medical Sciences; (2) Education; (3) Science; (4) Computer Science; (5) Financial and Administrative Sciences; and (6) Community College. It is equipped with a chain of Language, Computer and Science laboratories. It has also a closed-circuit television system having 13 studios. it aims at imparting education by highly qualifies faculty in all disciplines to cater to our male and female students


Prof. Mansour M. Al-Nozha, President, Taibah University,
P.O. Box 344, Madinah Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

[Bebsi]

Do you mean, perchance, TAIMAH?

I know Taimah. It is a small city in northwest KSA, about 90 mins south of Tabuk, on the Madinah road!

It is a very historic place. There are extensive archaological excavations in the desert north of the town, which legend says is the ruins of the "new" Babylon after the fall of the original. There is a museum in the town, with many interesting artefacts.

The Taimah Tablets (sort of similar to the Rosetta Stone) in the Louvre in Paris, were found here.

In the town centre is an interesting Old Turkish fort, dating from (I think) the early 19th century. It is still in superb condition, or was at least when I visited it in 1997. Furthermore, there is an ancient well in the centre of a roundabout. It is about 8 metres deep, and about 10 M in diameter. When I saw it, it had, sadly, a large amount of detritus strewn about the bottom. Be careful if you get close: there was no significant protective barrier, and falling in there is not an experience I would relish!

Within two hours of Taimah, is the magnificent ancient city of Madain Salah.

I don't know what living in Taimah would be like, but I suspect boring as hell if you're a party/shopping animal, but restful and rustic, and rather atmospheric, if you like a quiet life in a peaceful and historic old Arab town.

Jeddah would be about 7 hours away, and Madinah about half that, but if you are a non-muslim, the inner city area of the latter is simply out of bounds. The Red Sea coast would be only about 2 hours or less, and if you have a multi-visa, Aqaba in Jordan is about 4 hours.

I'm assuming in all this that Taimah and Taibah are sim-sim!

[usool]

Hi there

The Saudi government is in the process of converting of further education colleges in universities much like the UK did in the early nineties. Taibah university, which was essentially a college linked to King Saud and Imaam Muhammad universities, has been declared an indepedent universities.

As for Madinah, it is the final resting place of our beloved Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. It is the only city in the entire world that I have never in my life heard a bad thing said about from any Muslim anywhere. Indeed, it is as if all the good has been extracted from Saudi Arabia and placed in this one city. The rest of Saudi is, truly, a very harsh place indeed.

I hope this helps.

Regards and best wishes

[Bebsi]

A little ditty that may be of interest:

Over a year ago, I was driving around Madinah on the ring road. I erroneaously took a wrong turning and found that I had strayed a little into the restricted area. On asking for directions back to the ring-road, I found that people were without exception helpful, polite and indeed, devoid of any animosity, suspicion or resentment whatsoever, despite my being obviously a westerner and a non-muslim.

So, if anyone out there is fearful of going within a 100Km of the city, don't be. It is well signposted, and if you DO stray, people are only too willing to help in a friendly way. In any event, I suspect that if you were to venture further, a police checkpoint would prevent you from entering the city centre, as is the case in Makkah. I equally suspect that any straying non-Muslims would be helpfully shown back to the ring-road without any acrimony or ill-will.

Any similar experiences anyone?

BTW, it appears I was wrong about Taibah, or Taimah University! In retrospect, Taimah is extremely small, and would hardly be likely to host a university or similar institution.

Oh well, best of luck to the new college!

[jobhunting]

Many Applicants for Too Few Jobs
Abid Khazindar � Al-Riyadh

Some 2,500 women recently applied for 12 jobs at Taiba University in Madinah. The newly established university advertised for staff with BA degrees and six years experience working with computers and information systems. The qualifications sought by the university could not probably be found anywhere except in India, a country which is moving ahead of Europe and the US in computer technology. Just as an aside, we ought to be aware that the man who set up hotmail was an Indian. Microsoft rewarded him with $6 million in cash.

Having found that it would not be easy to find women with six years experience, the university lowered its demand for experience for some jobs from six years to three. On the day the advertisement appeared, the university received 500 applications; by the end of the next day, the number had risen to 2,500. If the report was true, this means we have 2,500 Saudi women who, despite being trained in the use of computers, are unemployed. True that perhaps not all of them have the required experience but experience, after all, is gained through work. It seems that the Labor Ministry is making no effort at all toward Saudizing computer jobs.

If this is the case with women who studied and received training in this important field, what fate awaits the thousands of others who specialized in purely theoretical studies?

I don�t know if the eligible applicants were employed by the university; for sure, however, we all know what will be the lot of the unselected applicants. They will stay at home, waiting for a miracle, perhaps marriage. Like the issue of women driving, women�s employment will continue to face many obstacles as a result of unyielding social pressure and tradition that seeks to keep women behind four walls.

[Bebsi]

I agree with Jobhunting, it is a dreadful situation that there are so many qualified women in KSA with no jobs to go to. It is not just a tragedy for themselves and their families, but also for Saudi Arabia.

There is a common belief that women are legally not allowed to work, in KSA, apart from specified jobs like medicine, nursing & teaching. This is patently untrue. Women in Saudi ARE allowed to work per se, but subject to various other restrictions such as freedom of association with male colleagues. There are women journalists working with publications such as The Arab News, and various TV stations. There are also women working in banks and other institutions. Many Saudi women have their own successful businesses.

The greatest problem in Saudi society, sadly, is one that has much more to do with traditions, customs and social acceptance. Many Saudi men feel that if their wives were to work, they would be seen as "weak" for "failing to provide" for their family. This machismo is very prevalent. Many more Saudis -both men and women- would just feel that there was something wrong with women being "out there" as opposed to being in their perceived traditional place, the home. And tragically, there is a number of Saudi men who would be just downright jealous and fearful of their wives leaving home every day, to be out there among strangers. This possessiveness certainly exists, and until this social insecurity has been dealt with, the problem will continue.

I have no doubt that KSA is all the poorer for not having a healthy situation whereby women would make up a significant proportion of the workforce. There are many intelligent, highly-educated and resourceful women in the Kingdom, whose denial of a place in the working population is the country's loss.

Some time ago, I made a routine phone enquiry to my bank. My call was answered by a young woman who spoke impeccable English. I asked her if she was Saudi, and she said yes, of course! She was helpful, friendly and efficient. I thought, why can't there be more women like her in the workforce, with something very real to contribute. There is no practical reason why there shouldn't be.

There is, undeniably, also a high rate of illiteracy and poor education among Saudi women. If the broad perceptions of women and their traditional social roles were to change, it is highly likely that attitudes to education would alter radically as well.

In fairness to the government, they acknowledge that this problem exists, but they are understandably reluctant to tackle this and many other problems too quickly. Given the nature of Saudi society, which is a deeply traditional one, change must be gradual and easy on the system, so to speak! Slow-but-sure social change is infinitely better than sudden, radical changes that could have massive reverberations for Saudi society.

Economic reality will, over the next few years, force more and more Saudis to rethink the place of women. The nuclear family is becoming a more commonplace part of society, and most young Saudis now want to have their own homes. With rising real-estate values, it is a fact that a very large number of them, as in western countries, will take out mortgages to pay for their houses and apartments. This will in time, coupled with a more consumerist society and generally increasing living costs, necessitate BOTH spouses going to work.

And yes, I believe that when that happens, they will have to DRIVE there, as any other means, such as hiring a driver, will be utterly impractical.

I expect to see a lot of changes in KSA over the next five-to-ten years. No, those changes will not happen overnight. Indeed, if they did, some of them could prove to be catastrophic.

[usool]

Hello

Rather typically, the advancement of women is linked to the issue of work outside the house. Where's the link between human rights and working outside the house? In most traditional societies, including the bible belt in the US, women work inside the house and men outside. Both jobs carry value, although raising children must be of greater value than, say, teaching English to ingrates.

Regards and best wishes

[Sea Sea Rider]

Bible Belt: Choice under the protection of the US Constitution upheld by the Supreme Court
KSA: No Choice under the strict interpretation of Quran and Hadith by Wahab Sectarians upheld by the ruling despotic monarchy

[Bebsi]

[usool]

Evaluating whether it will be good for the country if women enter the market place would require some form of empircal evidence. Since, 'good' is a subjective term and capitalism makes no known theoretical attempt to quantify or even deliver felicity then the entire discussion would descend into a mirriad of self referral.

As for the US constitution, when it said 'we the people' did the plural first person pronoun include to blacks and native Indians?

[Gerund]

[Sea Sea Rider]

[dmb]